[mrpippy]

I think it's just low supply. They were quite expensive so not that many existed to begin with, and then the last generation of SGI MIPS machines were largely cleared out by companies and academia in the mid-late 2000s. Anything left for sale now is either from hobbyists, surplus sellers hoping to cash in on the few niche markets that still use these, or just really late clearouts.

I bought my Octane on eBay in 2008 (it was previously used at Ford), I think it was around $80 and shipping was more than half of that (an Octane weighs ~80 lbs).

Here's a crazy one I saw yesterday: the Canadian government auctioning an unused Origin 3400, still in shipping crate. https://www.gcsurplus.ca/mn-eng.cfm?snc=wfsav&sc=enc-bid&scn...